Quick learner looks to make splash
Forest Heights’ Tozer ran his first hurdles race six weeks ago; now he’s bringing it to OFSAA
Nicholas Tozer has cleared one hurdle after another, both literally and figuratively, during his extraordinary season that ends this week at the all-Ontario high school track and field championship.
Starting from scratch in two of his three events, wearing spikes for the first time ever and training on a dreadful track are just a few of the obstacles that Tozer, 15, has overcome on his way to representing Forest Heights Collegiate Institute at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) meet that runs Thursday through Saturday at York University in Toronto.
Remarkably, the Grade 10 student is the top-seeded athlete in the junior boys’ 100- and 300-metre hurdle events at OFSAA and is ranked second in his preliminary heat for the 100-metre dash.
It’s a massive accomplishment for an athlete who had never competed in a hurdles race until April 21 when he ran the 100-metre distance in borrowed spikes during an untimed meet at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School. The six-foot, 165pound Tozer ran the 300-metre hurdles for the first time at the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) championship, this time in his own spikes, on May 12 at Jacob Hespeler.
“In that first race, I was just hoping to get over the 10 (hurdles) without falling, so I played it safe and just floated over them to get a bit of experience,” said the personable and well-spoken Tozer.
Just six weeks later, after finishing first in both hurdle events at WCSSAA, Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) and OFSAA West championships, the athlete whose goal was to remain upright is hoping for podium finishes at one of the biggest track meets in North America. “I want to make the final in all three races and, after that, it’s anybody’s race in the final,” Tozer said. “I really have high expectations for myself in the hurdles.”
Tozer had no intention of competing in the hurdles when he came out for the Trojans track and field team in late March, but Forest Heights teacher/coach Jasmin Kerr had other ideas. Kerr competed as a pentathlete at the University of Windsor and was confident that Tozer, a speedster who last ran track during his Grade 7 year at Laurentian Hills Christian School, had the necessary tools to become a successful hurdler. It didn’t take long for Kerr to be proven right.
Kerr instructed Tozer on the basics of running the hurdles during indoor training and he showed himself to be a quick study when he tried it for the first time outside on Forest Heights’ so-called track, an uneven and bumpy surface of dirt, clay, gravel, grass and weeds.
“He tried it in his running shoes and I was like, ‘Please don’t roll an ankle,’ ” said Kerr. “I was super impressed though, and after his first meet I knew he had the potential to make OFSAA.”
Tozer, who trains five times a week with the Red Academy of Soccer and played volleyball, basketball and badminton at school, goes to OFSAA as Forest Heights’ only participant.
Eighty-five students initially came out for the team, said teacher/head coach Brandon Hempel, and 46 of them stuck with it. That number was whittled down to six at last week’s OFSAA West championship in Windsor, with Tozer moving on with first-place finishes in both hurdle events and a second-place finish behind Jacob Hespeler’s Chase Judge in the 100-metre dash.
Kerr has high hopes for Tozer in all three events at OFSAA.
“I don’t want to put pressure on him, but he’s capable of winning all three events, even though he’s nursing a little bit of a (hip) injury,” said Kerr.
“He’s improving so much in both hurdle races just because of the little tweaks we’re making to his technical ability, and the 100-metre is just a bonus, but I think he can make the final in that, as well.”
Tozer’s first taste of OFSAA competition takes place Friday morning in the heats of the 100-metre hurdles. He earned top billing in that race with a 14.80-second effort at OFSAA West.
The 100-metre sprint heats are 90 minutes later, and Tozer is ranked second in his heat after posting 11.49 seconds at OFSAA West.
The 300-metre hurdles take place Saturday, and Tozer clocks in at 41.07, a number he achieved at OFSAA West in just his third time running the distance.
Tozer has never trained with a club outside of school and isn’t sure he’d have the time to do so because of soccer commitments. He has been approached by Berlin Athletics coach Mitch O’Donnell, a former OFSAA champion hurdler for Forest Heights, but doesn’t know where that will lead.
Kerr, meanwhile, said Tozer is only scratching the surface of what he’s capable of doing.
“I think, if he chooses to specialize in track, he has the potential to compete at the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) level or even in the States,” she said.
“The fact that he has been able to learn how to hurdle so efficiently in literally two months, half of which we were training here (the Forest Heights track), I think it is pretty amazing.”
Cameron Heights standout Trinity Shadd-Ceres will also make her OFSAA debut this week and is the top-seeded athlete in the junior girls’ 100-metre dash and long jump, along with being the second seed in the 200-metre dash.
Live results will be posted at windsortiming.com.
I want to make the final in all three races and, after that, it’s anybody’s race in the final. I really have high expectations for myself in the hurdles.
NICHOLAS TOZER